1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a continuous band transportation system for passengers and/or goods using belts, and more particularly, to the type employing several bands at different speeds to facilitate the acceleration and deceleration of passengers and goods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applicant believes that the closest references correspond to U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,010 issued to U. Makiri in 1966 for a mass transportation system. Makiri's patent discloses a mass transportation system having a plurality of parallel bands continuously moving adjacent to each other. Each band runs the entire path making it very expensive. This is true for the transportation system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,665,483 issued to H. E. Taylor in 1926. The bands in Taylor also require to operate at different speeds requiring the passengers to move through adjacent bands. These two patented inventions also differ from the present invention in that they do not disclose the boarding mechanism as claimed here. Makiris's and Taylor's patents do not suggest the characteristics claimed in the present invention, as set forth below. Here, the boarding and existing mechanisms involve only one band that is brought to the speed of the main band.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.